Many people ask me about my code I claim to live by , and I tell them that the code is not something that can be understood by just being told it by someone , Marine Corps boot camp is just a starting point . It did form the base line that everything else was based upon .
I enlisted on June 6th 1980 , The anniversary of D-day , the invasion of Normandy , WW2. also 7 months after the Hostages were taken in Iran. Like so many others I paid more and more attention as the crises went on until I felt I had to enlist . Likely the best thing I ever did .
My enlistment made me who I am today . Incorrect , The Marine Corps made me who I am today .
Parrots? you ask , Over the years I have had several Birds , Conures , a Cockatoo , Parakeets , Quakers , Lovebirds , Cockatiels , etc. I have had a dog , a couple of cats, Geckos , Anoles , frogs , skinks , fish , I even have 2 praying mantis right now in an aquarium . One might say all creatures great and small. Of all these creatures I seem to be drawn to birds the most . Personality , Beauty , Mystery , do we not all desire to be just a little more like the birds ??
In 1984 while assigned to truck company , HQ BN , 1st. Marine Division, Camp Pendleton California , I purchased a baby peach crested Cockatoo named Angel . Completely Illegal to have in the barracks so I kept it well hidden until I arranged to keep it at a friends house just in the nick of time . , You see one day we has been marching with rifles in the morning and when we came back at the noon of day for lunch we stacked rifles , posted guards and went to lunch. When we got back , one or more rifles ( I dont really know but I think it was 2 ) came up missing . The entire camp was turned upside down looking for those rifles . Even the ceiling was taken apart looking for those rifles . Had I the bird in the barracks it would have been found . Now people that know Cockatoos will ask , how could I keep it a secret , well, it was not really a secret
people knew I had it . It did not make much noise , and it went to sleep when covered up , I was young and stupid . I only kept it there about 2 weeks . She was an impulse buy of nearly a months pay.
I had to take her back to the store in Escondido when I found myself being discharged a couple of months later . ( Dont worry folks , I re-enlisted again months later for another 8 years ) Now I loved that bird but I kept it very little myself . It was super sweet . was just trying to make sounds experimenting with what I think would become words in time . but something about the way it looked at me made me love that bird . Think of it like this . You sit down with the bird next to you and you watch TV , the bird is quiet and you are paying it little attention other than being close to it , you are just watching TV. and then almost without you noticing it , it steps off the end table over on to your arm very gently, startles you , you look down and it is looking back up at you with a quizzical look, a sort of " what you doing " look .
When I went to go get her to take her back. she bit me . The first time ever . I still have the V shaped scar . but I know she could have snapped the end of my finger right off if she wanted to . Did she know I was taking her back ? Was she trying to make it easier to let her ( the perfict bird ) go ? I dont know , But I miss her today. I dont even have a picture of her any more .
So what do you think my first lesson was ?
